Lem’s latest: Lopez feels slighted, motivated by Alvarez-Ortiz

On Tuesday, Golden Boy Promotions announced that former WBC welterweight titleholder Victor Ortiz would rise into the 154-pound division to challenge unbeaten WBC beltholder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in the main event of a Showtime Pay-Per-View card from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Sept. 15.

“The fight alone is motivation enough,” said Lopez, who, at 27, is two years older than Ortiz. “But just the fact that, in my eyes, they’re jumping the gun, it adds more motivation. That’s certainly it right there.”

Ortiz must first get beyond Lopez to face Alvarez, a bout that would take place if he his victorious unless Ortiz suffers an injury during the bout such as a broken hand or severe cuts that would hinder his participation.

During a conference call on Wednesday, Ortiz said he is not overlooking Lopez, and, in fact, is not thinking about Alvarez.

“I’m ready for Josesito. There’s no thoughts of me fighting Canelo. There’s no thoughts of training for Canelo,” said Ortiz. “There’s nothing there in my mind for Canelo right now. As of right now, there’s only one guy that I want, and that’s Josesito Lopez. I’m ready.”

Lopez’s trainer, Dan Goossen, nevertheless, took exception to the move to name Ortiz as Alvarez’s next opponent.

“The fight is just 10 or 12 days away. If they wanted to show respect, I would think that maybe after June 23, then that’s when the announcement would come if you were successful against Josesito,” said Goossen. “But from our end of it, no matter what kind words we put on to this, I thought that it was done improperly and disrectfully.”

“It was unfortunate circumstances that we received this opportunity, because of the situation with Andre Berto,” said Goossen. “I know that he’s a clean fighter.”

Ortiz said that he respects the ability of Lopez, who is coming off a disputed split-decision loss to Jessie Vargas last September.

“Lopez is a great fighter. I think that he and Berto kind of go hand in hand,” said Ortiz. “They’re both great fighters. I can’t ease up on either of them. I guess that the difference there is that Josesito is not on ‘roids.”

Vargas-Lopeztook place as the second bout on undercard of an HBO Pay Per View televised main event featuring Floyd MayweatherJr. dethroning Ortiz as WBC welterweight beltholder.

“I definitely think that I won. I’ve had a chance to see the fight again, and I feel that I won,” said Lopez. “I feel like nine out of 10 people that you talk to would feel the same thing. Unfortunately, the judges didn’t see it the same way.”

Soto is riding a 15-bout winning streak that includes six knockouts, and Matthysse is after his third straight stoppage victory.

Matthysse take a knockout mentality into his clash with Soto, having scored two consecutive stoppages.

Prior to his last fight, a sixth-round knockout of Angel Martinez in February, Matthysse fought three southpaws in a row, sandwhiching split-decision losses to ex-titleholders Zab Judah and Devon Alexander in around a eighth-round knockout of DeMarcus Corley.

“Zab and Devon were very difficult fighters, and obviously, having to adjust to them was difficult,” said Matthysse. “But with Humberto, we know that he is going to come to fight. He’s going to come to go to war. That makes me very happy, because I’m ready to give him a war.”

“Right now, my suspension is until March, but there has been talks about it, and I’m hoping to maybe fight in November or December. I think that there are a couple of fights at 126 that I would be interested in, but I’m also looking at moving up to 130.”

Lopez was in attendance at last Friday night’s clash at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, where former middleweight titleholder Kelly Pavlik scored a seventh-round knockout of Scott Sigmon.